Hots for Tutor
by fireandice722
Summary: Mortal AU where awkward and rather dense Percy Jackson falls for Annabeth Chase, natural beauty, wicked smart brainiac, and . . . his tutor. Rated T for some swearing.
1. Chapter 1

There's a million fun ways to spend a Monday afternoon; staying inside playing video games, practicing swimming in the backyard, and visiting my mom at her candy shop Sweet on America with my friends Grover and Nico are just a few ideas that come to mind. But staying after school to be tutored? Definitely not an enticing way to spend my time.

It wasn't my idea to get help with schoolwork, even though I really needed it. My stepfather Paul Blofis (also my English teacher, weird, I know) convinced me to sign up for it. After a sub-par freshman year of purely Cs and Ds in my classes, sophomore year only got harder. After my first quarter of 10th grade, I had managed to get four Ds and two Fs, an all time low for me.

Paul pulled me aside one day after classes and told me about the extra one-on-one help available after school, urging me to do it for my hardworking mom, if not for myself. That was enough to persuade me to do it. She'd sacrificed a lot for me, working all the time to provide for me, so I figured the least I could do would be to pass my classes. So here I am at the front of the school library, feeling dumber than a sack of potatoes as I look at all the kids sitting around with their own personal tutors.

After standing around for about thirty seconds or so, unsure what to do, a lanky guy wearing glasses and a tacky name tag labeled 'Malcolm' walks up to me. "Percy right?" he asks.

"Yeah, that's me," I answer bleakly.

"Newcomer I see," Malcolm says, a hand on his chin. "Well you'll be assisted by a new tutor who just so happened to have signed up around the same time as you. She'll help you out since she has no student to work with." He points to the table my tutor is at and I feel a nervous, unexplainable tingle in my stomach as I walk over to her in the far corner.

She's got a head-turning California girl complexion; blonde curls, sun kissed skin, and a slender build. From what I can see of her face, she wears no makeup, and her clothes are pretty simple: an olive green t-shirt with an owl printed on the front, faded blue jeans, and worn out converse high tops. Then she looks up from the book in her hand, and the whole California girl thing is ruined, though not necessarily in a bad way. Her eyes, rather than sky blue, or sea green like mine, eye colors you'd expect from a girl like her, are instead a stormy grey, intense and intimidating, making her even more attractive.

"Hey… I'm Percy," I say to her, offering my hand as she catches sight of me.

"Annabeth Chase," she says, shaking my hand curtly. "I know who you are, Percy." She has a smile on her face, but I don't think it's a genuine one. It is, instead, the type of smile I'm used to getting from people; a pitiful look that fails to hide dismay. She probably knows about at least one of the stupid things I'd done last year, like dying the school pool dark blue or getting kicked out of Miss. Dodd's Algebra class more times than I can count. Trust me, I've done a lot of stupid things in my life. I answer in a safer, less self-deprecating way.

"You must know me for being swim captain," I say.

"Ummm…yeah," she answers, not looking at me as she rummages through her bag, pulling out her pencil pouch. "So let's get started on working. We can stay here till nighttime but I'd rather get home as soon as possible to study." She studies in her free time? This isn't gonna be fun.

To say Annabeth made my work easy to do would be a lie. We took over two hours to finish up all my work, and it was, in my humble opinion, a form of mild mental torture. Annabeth wouldn't give me the answers straight away, instead only giving me the most subtle of hints as to what the correct answers were. When I begged her to tell me what to write down, she only shook her head adamantly, saying I "won't learn without putting in effort."

It didn't help that she always gave me this disappointed look every time I screwed something up, and it only made me feel worse. For some reason, I wanted to impress her, but she was too damn smart and I was too dense. In the end, I did get most of the answers correct by myself, but it had exhausted my head pretty badly. The worst part is, it's only Monday; I still had to be tutored for three more days this week.

* * *

Things got more difficult for the next couple of the weeks. Annabeth always made me figure out what to do with minimal guidance, saying that she "refuses to be an easy tutor." I felt really out of my league around her, a gorgeous and ridiculously intelligent girl. After a couple days, she seemed less bothered by the blunders in my work, as if she had grown expectant of me having errors.

Then one day I got back my latest Latin test, with a C plus. A C PLUS. That's almost a B! I couldn't believe it, but then I got back a couple more tests, one from Math and another from Chemistry, both Cs. Not the most amazing I could've gotten, but passing all the same. Annabeth really was helping me. Although I didn't think much of it at the time, I realized there had been a few instances during each of these tests that I chided myself similarly to how Annabeth would have done during our tutoring sessions.

I really wanted to show her my improved tests, but when I get to the library for the latest tutoring session, I realize she isn't sitting there in the corner as usual, which doesn't seem like her; she'd always struck me as a prompt person. As I take a seat at the desk, I put my head down on my copy of Julius Caesar to rest a bit and look at the other kids around the library.

* * *

I don't know when I nodded off, but the next thing I know, I'm being nudged in the side. "Percy wake up…" Annabeth hisses in a loud whisper.

"Huh?" I say, a bit too loudly. Several people turn to glance at the two of us.

"Sorry I was late," she says, taking her seat across from me. "By the way, you drool when you sleep."

I want to say something sarcastic to her, but then I see her eyes and any sarcastic quips are gone. She seems gloomy, her stormy eyes bloodshot, her irises darker than usual. "What's wrong?" I ask her.

She glares daggers at me, as if trying to pick me apart just by making eye contact with me. Hell it almost worked; sure she was intimidating most of the time, but it was nothing compared to how scary she was angry. I couldn't figure for the life of me what was so wrong with asking somebody why they seemed so upset, but I could tell something was bothering her pretty bad. I decide to take the risk and repeat my question. "Annabeth, what's wrong?"

She glares a bit more, then exhales in in exasperation. "If you must know, it's just...my mom called me after last period. Nothing too serious."

"You're a terrible liar," I tell her, instantly regretting it. I brace myself, expecting her to do no less than breathe fire in rage. To my surprise, she answers me, but in a quieter, unsure voice.

"You wouldn't understand," she says. "Not really."

"Annabeth, you can trust me," I tell her. For some stupid reason, I remain persistent.

"What am I supposed to say?" she snaps angrily. "Am I supposed to tell you, a complete stranger to me, that my mom doesn't give a damn about me? That she left me when I couldn't even speak and now she expects phone calls to make up for years of absence? That my dad is too blind to understand me? That I'm tired of people trying to tell me who to be? Ugh, I'm sorry Percy, but I find it hard to believe that you'd relate to any of that!" She's crying angry tears now. I can tell she didn't want to tell me any of this, but it just spilled out.

Uncomfortable and uncertain how to comfort her, especially with people glancing nervously at us, I put my hand on hers and try to calm her down, speaking in a low tone to prevent anyone from overhearing us. "You can't say I can't relate to you if you don't know that for a fact Annabeth."

"What could you know about anything I deal with?" she asks me.

"Because my dad left me as a kid," I say, without a second thought. "He was some hotshot navy guy, he knocked up my mom, then he ditched when she got pregnant. Then my mom married an abusive sex-driven asshole just so she could have an income to support me, and she only recently realized how toxic that was." I feel my fist clench at the very thought of Smelly Gabe, with his tobacco breath and daily 6-pack of beer. Just the memory of him made my blood boil.

"And now she's finally happy with my current step-dad, but she has to worry about me being a failure cause I can't get a fucking C in any of my classes. So, you can say that you have problems, but so do other people Annabeth," I finish, not sure how I managed not to raise my voice. I look at her, and I see her looking down at the desk, embarrassed.

"I'm sorry Percy. I had no idea," she says. She hesitates, then speaks again after about a minute or so in silence. "My mom left my dad and I when I was a few months old. She said having a family wasn't in her plans, said it would hinder her future, and that being with my dad was a mistake. She never said anything for years, then a couple of years ago she contacted me and said she wanted me to join her at her tech company after high school, but I refused. She's trying to win me over, but I'm so tired of it. I don't wanna be a tech mogul like her, I don't wanna be a historian like my dad and bitchy stepmom want me to be," she says with a roll of her eyes.

"What do you want to be?" I ask her.

"I just wanna be an architect," she says, "I just wanna be able to make things of my own." Another couple of minutes pass by without a word; the students in the library have stopped looking at us, no longer trying to overhear our conversation. I suddenly realize my hand hasn't left hers; I move it away, and we both blush awkwardly.

"Didn't know we had that much in common," she says, rubbing her neck.

Something cracks and I can't help but laugh. "You mean that we both have jacked up parents with commitment problems?" I suggest offhandedly.

To my surprise, she smiles back, a really breathtaking smile. "You are such a dork," she says with an adorable giggle. In a matter of seconds, the tension is broken like a knife cutting through butter.

* * *

After that, Annabeth and I became really close. It seemed as if we spent more time at the library every day after that. She was a genuinely fun person to be around when she didn't take herself so seriously. I really began to enjoy our time together after school, to the point where I almost didn't want to go home some days. I began to hopelessly crush on her soon after, but I didn't dare do anything about it.

I could think about her all day, those gorgeous grey eyes and cute, sarcastic smile, those- "Yo Perce, you zoned out again?" my friend Grover says around a mouthful of enchilada. Him and my friends Nico, Frank, Leo, and Jason are all looking at me around the cafeteria table. It was the third time today that I'd zoned out.

"What's her name?" Jason asks.

"Huh? How'd you know it was a girl?" I ask him, feeling my face get hot.

"Seriously Percy, last time you were so unfocused like this was when you had a crush on Rachel Dare," Leo says.

"And we don't need to remind you how that turned out," Frank adds.

"Oh god, please don't," I groan in embarrassment.

"Piper told you that writing a love letter of all things was a bad idea," Jason says. "And she has a good sense of these things."

"Never doing that again," I say under my breath. I consider telling them about Annabeth; there was no convincing way of telling them about meeting her besides the truth, that I was being tutored. They didn't know I was doing that bad in school.

"Earth to Perce…" Nico says.

"Fine, but you can't say anything okay?" I tell them. Everyone around the table nods, so I decide to go through with it. "Her name is Annabeth, she's my...tutor."

"Woah woah… Annabeth Chase?" Grover says, grinning. Everyone else starts to smile too.

"Dude, she's kinda outta your league," Nico says unnecessarily, completely brushing over the fact that I was being tutored.

"Yeah I kinda figured, but thanks for the support guys," I sulk.

"It's not our fault you've got a thing for some girl Luke Castellan was with," Leo says. "Plus she kinda scares me sometimes," he adds quietly.

"Luke Castellan? He graduated last year," I say, dumbfounded.

"Yep, he was a senior and she was a freshman," Frank says. "They split up after a month or two."

"My sister is still friends with both of them, apparently they've still got bad blood," Jason says.

"How did I not know about any of this?" I ask them. Luke was, as far as I know, the most popular senior last year.

"Oh cause they became a thing around the same time you tried to get together with Rachel," Grover says.

"Took a long time to live that down," Nico says with an evil grin as my face begins to burn.

"Maybe that's why she moved to that all girls prep school," Leo says. "She couldn't be around Percy and his unrequited love f—"

"Oh my gods guys shut up!"

* * *

Figures a girl like Annabeth would've been with a guy like Luke. If I thought she was out of league before, knowing about her being with Luke made things way worse. Even though I found myself attracted to her, I didn't let my friendship with Annabeth be ruined by a crush. In fact, things were generally the same after I found out about Luke. Every day after school, we would go over my homework while having the most random of conversations. I'd actually come to know a lot about her, from her fear of spiders to her many building concepts and ideas.

As the year progressed, my grades boosted to mostly Bs and B minuses, with the exception of a solid C in geometry, to the surprise of both my mom and Paul. My mom was really proud of me, and it felt great being able to see her so happy.

However, my grades were no longer the biggest of my concerns as the school year was almost over. As the days went by, the desire to tell Annabeth about my feelings for her became more and more tempting. It seemed that every day, I found some small reason to like her more, to the point that she was literally the first and last thought of my day.

Before I knew it, the last day of school had arrived. Finals were over, and I had breezed through my exams thanks to Annabeth's help beforehand, but now the biggest test of all had come; how was I going to tell her I like her? I knew if I didn't get to it soon, I wouldn't be able to do it at all. I had no classes with Annabeth since she took all APs and I took none. Thankfully the last day had no classes and was just four hours reserved for tidying up and saying farewells, so I could use that time to try and find her and talk to her alone.

I had just about given up after looking for her for an hour with no luck, when I felt somebody's hands cover my eyes from behind me. "Guess who?" I hear from a familiar voice.

"Annabeth?" I say, feeling a blush on my cheeks for no apparent reason.

"Correct, Seaweed Brain," she says.

"Seaweed Brain?" I ask, raising an eyebrow at the new nickname.

"Cause you're a swimmer and your head's full of kelp?" she suggests with a grin.

"Nice one Wise Girl," I quip.

"Wise Girl? That's the all you could come up with?" she teases, her grin widening.

"Not all of us can have amazing nicknames like 'Seaweed Brain,'" I say, making her laugh. "Look, I just wanted to…um, thank you for helping me get my grades up." Grades. Really? That's all I could come up with?

"Hey, it's no problem Percy. I mean, it wasn't easy, but I did make a friend out of it," she says.

"Well, um, that's the thing…" It's now or never. "I kinda want to be…more than friends."

"What exactly do you mean?" she says, raising an eyebrow. Shit, is she really going to make me say it?

"Well uh… I feel like we got pretty close… and I've been thinking of you a lot lately… and I was wondering if maybe, we could, you know, try for a relationship…as more than friends," I say, feeling my face burn. That came out way more stuttery than I wanted. I wait for her to respond, but she just stares at me, expression blank.

"I knew this was a bad idea," I say, feeling embarrassed by her silence.

"Why do you say that?" she asks, her expression neutral.

"Because you're out of my league, you're smart, gorgeous, you're…amazing…" I tell her, feeling my face get hotter than it was before, which I didn't think was possible. "You dated Luke Castellan last year, I should've know this was a stupid idea."

She rolls her eyes, as an irritated look crosses her face. "Percy, seriously? Are you kidding? Luke was a dick, he just wanted to date me so he could win a senior dare. He just wanted to sleep with me to say he did it with a freshman."

"So you don't like him?" I ask, dumbfounded.

"Duh, Seaweed Brain," she says, smirking. "I'm done with assholes. I do like this one guy though…"

"Wait, so do you like me back?" I ask her, still unsure. God, I bet planning Ancient Greek battle strategy would be easier than getting my way through the minefield I'd gotten myself in.

"Ewww, no Percy… You're kind of a loser," she says. I feel a sinking in a chest, then I look at her and see her suppressing a smile (and failing miserably at it might I add).

"Oh my god, you're messing with me!" I say.

"I can't just give you the answers. I have to make you think first," she says with a smile that makes me feel weak in the knees.

"You aren't making this easy," I tell her, unable to look away from her mesmerizing grey eyes.

"I will never make anything easy for you Seaweed Brain," she says, moving closer to me, until our faces are inches apart. "Get used to it." With that, she grabs my shirt and locks our lips together.

And it was pretty much the best kiss ever.

* * *

Please review and tell mewhat you think of this and if I should write a version from Annabeth's perspective!


	2. Chapter 2

I told Malcolm I didn't want to tutor. Not after having to deal with the Stoll twins last year. Of course, there were so few people who were willing to help the dying tutor program; after all, having to tutor would essentially be doing double the amount of work. I didn't need that this year on top of Academic Decathlon team and all AP classes, but, as my cousin, Malcolm practically begged me, and I had no choice but to oblige. After all, it would just be another thing to add to my student resume for college. It really couldn't be all that bad, I convinced myself. Then I met the kid I would be tutoring for the year, and all my optimism was thrown out the window.

His hair is messed up in what I can only assume is an "I just woke up like this" type of style. It probably makes some girls swoon, but not me. After Luke, it takes a lot to impress me nowadays. His ripped jeans, seashell necklace, ocean wave print t-shirt, and backpack slung over one shoulder radiate an unusual mixture of surfer and wannabe bad boy; kind of peculiar, but not the worse fashion sense. The thing that throws me off are his sea green eyes when they glance my way. Something about his eyes unnerves me, but I ultimately decide to ignore it.

"Hi...I'm Percy," he says, offering his hand to shake, which I do respectfully. At least he has better manners than the Stolls did.

"Annabeth Chase. I know who you are Percy," I say, forcing a smile out of politeness. I certainly don't need an introduction to _the_ Percy Jackson, easily Goode High School's least likely to succeed. Don't get me wrong, Percy is considered a nice guy by everybody, and even I can't say he's all that bad, but he has a knack for trouble or drama. There was the time he lit himself on fire for twenty bucks (only 20?). Or the time he picked a fight with Clarisse la Rue, the wrestling team captain of all people (and got beaten miserably). And, of course, there was the time he made a toilet explode (don't ask). He tends to stupid things, and I can only assume his book smarts are as dull as his judgement skills.

"You must know me for being swim captain," he says, rubbing his neck awkwardly. I'm sure he probably knows from my tone that I'm already ruling him out as a moron, and I feel a twinge of remorse for him, even if I barely know the guy. I want to make him feel better, but I've never been great with people.

"Um… Yeah," I reply, awkwardly looking through my bag to avoid eye contact with him. "So let's get started on working. We can stay here till nighttime but I'd rather get home as soon as possible to study." Truth be told, I did have to study for three tests this week, but that wasn't all of it. I honestly didn't want to use too much of my time on Percy if he wasn't going to try, but for now I give him the benefit of the doubt, and I decide not to make assumptions right away.

A couple hours later, I knew that I was wrong. The problem wasn't that Percy didn't try; the thing that made it worse is that he genuinely was trying and couldn't figure things out for the life of him. I tried to stay patient, correcting his work, yet at the same time trying to be academically ethical by not giving the answers, but jeez was it difficult. I could tell he was frustrated, and I really did feel sympathetic towards him, but at the same time I knew I had work of my own to do. By the time Percy and I were done looking over his homework, nearly no one was there, unsurprisingly. He thanked me sheepishly, and I told him it was no problem, but as I was on the subway home, I realized it is a problem. How am I going to live with tutoring him for a whole year without having a conniption?

* * *

Over the next couple of weeks, I do my best to help Percy, and I do see marginal improvement. After the first week, he starts to do his work by himself while I help with small parts like spelling errors, incorrect signs in math equations, and a few incorrect facts or quotes. It's not anything game changing but his work is starting to get better. However, I can't help but appreciate that he tries his best consistently.

I've always had a soft spot for people trying to learn and seek knowledge, and I was quick to realize that I was wrong; Percy wasn't dull, he just wasn't applying himself. I figured with enough support, he could do better, and I could be the only one to do this, as his tutor. He was still hard to work with, but I tried my best to help him without being mean about it.

Line Break

I'm on my way to the library from my seventh period class, AP European History, prepared for another tutor session with Percy, when I get a call on my phone. Assuming it's Thalia or my dad calling, I answer without looking at the screen. When I hear the woman's voice on the other line, I automatically regret it.

"Annabeth! Finally you've answered," my mother says. I feel my blood turn to ice at the voice of her, the woman who ruined things for my father and me by walking out the door. I feel myself clench and unclench my fist. How stupid could I be to answer the phone when I'd been dodging calls from her for the past few months.

"Annabeth, are you there?" she asks. I contemplate hanging up the phone, but I know dad and I wouldn't hear the end of it from her if I did. I decide to suck it up and try to end the conversation as soon as humanly possible.

"Hello mother," I say, hoping my voice isn't dripping with sarcastic venom. If I do sound angry or bitter, she doesn't acknowledge it.

"I'm glad you answered. I was starting to worry about you. How's school? Are your grades good?" she asks, as if she's always been around. As if she deserved to be treated as my mom.

"Straight As, nothing different," I say. "But I know you didn't call to check up on your biological daughter. You called to try and win over your heir to Olympus Tech."

"You know Annabeth, I wish that you would at least let me try to be your mother," she says with a huff. If I inherited one thing about my mother's personality, it was her short temper.

"Convenient that you decided to enter my life when you need something," I spit at her, feeling my blood boil. "I already told you, a life as a tech mogul is definitely not my career choice."

"Annabeth, I didn't just leave you and Frederick just for personal gain. I did this to build up a legacy for you, my daughter, to take from me when my retirement comes. I want the best for you," she says, as if she actually means it.

"Spare me the half-truths. You didn't bother visiting me at all; in fact the only time you met with me was when you first made this proposal," I say, barely stopping myself from shouting in fury.

"And what could be better than being one of the figureheads of a multimillion dollar company? Being an architect?" she shoots back. "I offer you this influence, the chance to make something of your life, but an architect? I would have thought my daughter to better than that."

"And that's why I hate you," I tell her. "You act as if you give a shit—"

"Annabeth," she says in a warning tone, but I ignore her.

"You claim you 'care' so much, but a real mother would support their child. A real mother wouldn't tell their child that what they wanted was ridiculous. A real mother doesn't force her kids to follow her every whim. So don't call me daughter, because I don't want you in my life," I snap at her.

"Annabeth—" she starts, but I don't let her finish.

"I have something to do right now that's better than talking to you, so don't bother trying to call again," I say, ending the call, as a teardrop falls onto the screen and my anger turns to silent tears.

* * *

I splash some water on my face in the bathroom in the library quickly, wiping away my tears. Never was I more glad with my decision to not wear makeup; if I had been wearing any, my face would look much worse. I take a deep breath, and try my best to calm myself. I could spaz out as much as I wanted in the safety of my locked bedroom as soon as I got home.

I'm not in the least surprised when I see Percy sleeping at our usual desk, head on his Julius Caesar book while a pool of saliva has formed next to this mouth. Despite the situation, I smile inwardly. Of course he fell asleep. I nudge him in the side. "Percy, wake up," I say, the words coming out more menacing than I intended.

"Huh," he says loudly and dumbfounded, as he groggily opens his eyes, drawing attention from the kids near us.

"Sorry I was late," I say as I take a seat and sling my bag over the back of the chair. "By the way, you drool when you sleep," I add without thinking. I look at him, and I realize that he was going to say something but changed his mind.

"What's wrong?" he asks. Damn, my eyes must still be red. I feel anger bubbling again, and I consider what to say to him. I'm so furious right now, I could take it out on anyone. Then again, Percy didn't do anything to me. I don't know what to say, so I decide to glare at him to try to get him to shut up, but he refuses to let it go.

"What's wrong, Annabeth?" he repeats, clearly not taking my death stare as an answer. He's determined, I'll give him that, but so was Luke when I finally told him about my mother.

"If you must know, it's just...my mom called me after last period. Nothing too serious," I say matter of factly, deciding not to elaborate.

"You're a terrible liar," Percy says, which only infuriates me more.

"You wouldn't understand. Not really," I say, in a collected tone that surprises me a bit.

"Annabeth, you can trust me," he says, and I finally snap. He reminds me of him—Luke—too nosey for his own damn good.

"What am I supposed to say? Am I supposed to tell you, a complete stranger to me, that my mom doesn't give a damn about me? That she left me when I couldn't even speak and now she expects phone calls to make up for years of absence? That my dad is too blind to understand me? That I'm tired of people trying to tell me who to be? Ugh, I'm sorry Percy, but I find it hard to believe that you'd relate to any of that!" By now, those stupid, ugly, searing tears are back. God, I must look like hell right now.

Percy does something that surprises me, sending tingles down my spine; he takes my hands in his. "You can't say I can't relate to you if you don't know that for a fact Annabeth," he says in a suddenly hushed, gentle voice.

"What could you know about anything I deal with?" I ask him, genuinely curious about what he could ever have in common with me.

"Because my dad left me as a kid," he starts. "He was some hotshot navy guy, he knocked up my mom, then he ditched when she got pregnant. Then my mom married an abusive sex-driven asshole just so she could have an income to support me, and she only recently realized how toxic that was." I can tell from how his expression that he hated his stepfather; I could relate to hating a step parent.

"And now she's finally happy with my current step-dad, but she has to worry about me being a failure cause I can't get a fucking C in any of my classes. So, you can say that you have problems, but so do other people Annabeth," he finishes with a huff. I feel horrible at the conclusion of his story. While I was getting so pissed over my mom, he had dealt with something similar.

"I'm sorry Percy. I had no idea," I say, contemplating if I should confide in him; I decide that it's only the fair thing to do since he trusted me enough.

"My mom left my dad and I when I was a few months old. She said having a family wasn't in her plans, said it would hinder her future, and that being with my dad was a mistake. She never said anything for years, then a couple of years ago she contacted me and said she wanted me to join her at her tech company after high school, but I refused. She's trying to win me over, but I'm so tired of it. I don't wanna be a tech mogul like her, I don't want to be a historian like my dad and bitchy stepmom want me to be." I can't help but roll my eyes at the last part. God, I couldn't just wait to go to college to get away from them.

"What do you want to do?" he asks, which genuinely catches me off guard.

"I just want to be an architect," I confess, something I'd only told my best friends Thalia and Piper. "I just want to make things of my own." We fall into a somewhat uncomfortable silence after that, and I allow the conversation to sink in. Percy and i were like two different beings completely, and yet… it seemed as if we were less dissimilar than I thought.

My reverie is broken as his hand moves away from mine. We both blush, but for some reason, I miss the absence of his warmth. "I didn't know we had that much in common," I say, breaking the silence.

"You mean that we both have jacked up parents with commitment problems?" he says, and just like that, all strain of the situation is thrown out the window.

"You are such a dork," I say with a laugh. Leave it to Percy Jackson to make a joke out of such an emotional moment.

* * *

All our tutor sessions after that day became more and more enjoyable. Percy proved me wrong; he really isn't a doofus like everyone thinks. I learned a lot about him, from big, like his tendency to be a mama's boy, to small, like his love of blue food. He had his own little quirks that I found adorable.

I'm not sure when I started falling for Percy, but before I knew it I had him on my mind constantly. I'd always find myself in anticipation of our time together in the afternoons. The problem was, I wasn't sure if he reciprocated those emotions. I can't help but wonder if he likes someone else; I know that Drew Tanaka and Silena Beauregard gush over him. I'm really not much of looker compared to girls like them, but it's not like they ever had a real connection with him I like I do.

Thalia, Hazel, and I are sleeping over at Piper's house when I decide to ask about my friends' opinions. "Guys, I think I might have a new crush, but I'm not sure he's all that into me," I say, mentally preparing myself for a tirade of questions.

"Is he cute?" Thalia asks.

"What's his name?" Piper inquires.

"How did you meet him?" Hazel says. Three questions in three seconds. Gods help me.

"I'm his tutor," I say, making Thalia laugh. Piper rolls her eyes at Thals but smirks nonetheles, and Hazel giggles daintily into her hand, then tries to disguise it as a cough.

"His… tutor," Thalia says. "Ah man, that's rich."

"She's serious," Piper simply says. "I can tell."

"No she's not, let's be real about this Annabeth," Thalia says, glancing toward me. I stare back at her, wordless.

"Okay, so you were serious," she says. "Never mind then."

"So do we know him or what?" Hazel asks.

"I'm sure you know Percy Jackson," I say, feeling a slight tingle in my stomach just from his name.

"Percy Jackson?" Piper says. "I'd never ship you two together in a billion years."

"You guys are nothing alike," Hazel says.

"You're a levelheaded geek, and he's...him," Thalia says.

"I didn't really think much of him either, but one day we learned some pretty deep things about each other, and it turns out that we're more in common than I thought. We've gotten pretty close recently," I say, not really sure how explain the chemistry between Percy and I.

"How's he make you feel?" Hazel asks.

"It's like, everytime we touch, there's a little tingling sensation. Kind of like what I felt with Luke, except I don't feel like I need to impress Percy. I feel like I can be myself. He genuinely cares about me," I say truthfully.

"That's like what if felt like when I first started dating Jason," Piper says.

"Okay first, ew Piper," Thalia says, sticking her tongue out at the mention of her brother, getting another eye roll from Piper. "And second, what's it like when you guys talk? What do you guys talk about?"

"Pretty much everything you can think of," I say. "And whenever we talk, I feel like I can trust him. Like anything I say is safe with him. Thing is, I don't know if he reciprocates that. I suppose if he did like me, he'd probably have asked me out already."

"Well I'm not really surprised he hasn't asked you out, seeing that this is Percy Jackson we're talking about," Piper says.

"What do you mean?" I say, not sure what she means.

"He has serious self-esteem issues," Hazel says. "You know the story about Rachel don't you?" Of course, I think to myself, mentally facepalming. Who could forget that sappy love letter?

"It doesn't help that you're intimidating as hell," Thalia says.

"Yep," says Piper.

"True," Hazel chirps.

"What? I'm not intimidating," I reply. "What makes you say that Thals? You're the one punk rocker girl here."

"I try to look menacing, thank you very much," Thalia says, doing a mock curtsy. "But Annabeth, you don't try to be scary, you just are. You always look like you're brooding all the time. Whenever you think, you get this look in your eyes that looks like a storm brewing."

"Also, you have to consider you're way smarter than him," Piper says. "He probably feels like you're way out of his league."

"Not to mention he might know about you and Luke," Hazel adds.

"Holy shit," is all I can say. It all makes sense, putting everything together. There were so many factors to consider; if only there was a book to understand boys. "So what should I do?"

"You'll just have to do it yourself," Thalia says. "Percy is too much of a wuss to do it himself."

"I agree with her," Piper says. "If you really think he likes you go for it."

"You know what? You guys are right," I say. "He won't have the first move, so I will."

* * *

Easier said than done. As the year progressed, I only starting falling more and more for Percy. I kept wondering what I would say when I would finally ask him out, or if he would ever do it himself. Before I knew it, end-of-the-year finals tests were coming up, and Percy and I were spending time together more than ever before. As the tests approached, I began to lose hope. The year would be over soon; if anything was going to happen, it would have to happen soon.

Of course, nothing changed.

The last day of school was sprung on me quickly after the annual final exams, and I agreed with myself on the bus that, no matter what, I was going to tell Percy how I feel about him. I had everything planned out while I cleaned out my locker, every word coordinated. Of course, all I had planned was thrown out the window as I find him cluelessly wandering the hallway. Time to improvise.

I sneak up behind him and cover his eyes with my hands, "Guess who?" I ask, overcome with giddiness.

"Annabeth?" he answers, his voice somewhat nervous. His cheeks are pink.

"Correct, Seaweed Brain," I tell him, throwing out the first nick name I can think of.

"Seaweed Brain?" he questions, with his adorable crooked smile.

"Because you're a swimmer and you head's full of kelp?" I suggest.

"Nice one, Wise Girl," he says, smirking more confidently now.

"Wise Girl?" I ask. Now it's my turn to raise an eyebrow. "That's all you could come up with?"

"Not all of us can have amazing nicknames like 'Seaweed Brain,'" he says. I can't help but laugh at his blush. "Look, I just wanted to…um, thank you for helping me get my grades up." Grades? Really?

"Hey, it's no problem Percy. I mean, it wasn't easy, but I did make a friend out of it." As soon as the word 'friend' leaves my mouth, I want to kick myself in the leg. Why did I just say friend?

"Well, um, that's the thing… I kinda want to be…more than friends," he says. Oh my god, HE SAID IT. I feel my heart beat faster, but I decide to mess with him a bit. It's been months I've been waiting, I can torture him for a few minutes can't I?

"What exactly do you mean?" I ask, trying my best to fake a deadpan look.

"Well uh… I feel like we got pretty close… and I've been thinking of you a lot lately… and I was wondering if maybe, we could, you know, try for a relationship…as more than friends," he says, awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck, his eyes fixating on anything but mine. For some reason, I don't say a word.

"I knew this was a bad idea," he says, his cheeks now a burning red. He's so cute when he's embarrassed.

"Why do you say that?" I ask him, still playing my charade. I feel horrible doing this to him, but at the same time, I was curious what else he would say.

"Because you're out of my league, you're smart, gorgeous, you're…amazing…" he says. I could just explode with happiness right now. I'm so close to throwing my arms around him, but then he says some more. "You dated Luke Castellan last year, I should've know this was a stupid idea."

At Luke's name, I feel a spark of annoyance. Of course he didn't know the whole story. "Percy, seriously? Are you kidding? Luke was a dick, he just wanted to date me so he could win a senior dare. He just wanted to sleep with me to say he did it with a freshman."

"So you don't like him?" he asks. I can't help but grin at his obliviousness.

"Duh, Seaweed Brain. I'm done with assholes," I say, finally deciding give it a rest. "I do like this one guy though…"

"Wait, so do you like me back?" he asks. I swear, I would've smacked him for being clueless if it wasn't so adorable.

"Ew, no Percy… You're kind of a loser," I say, biting back laughter. He looks heartbroken, the our eyes meet he busts out laughing.

"Oh my god, you're messing with me!" he says, pointing out the obvious.

"I can't just give you the answers. I have to make you think first," I say, feeling all bubbly inside.

"You aren't making this easy for me," he says, his smile wide.

"I will never make things easy for you, Seaweed Brain," I say, closing the gap between us. "Get used to it." For once in my life, I don't think, I just do it. I pull on his collar and lock our lips together, and he kisses me back with equal enthusiasm.

His lips taste like sea salt.

* * *

Please review and tell me what y'all think!


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